Houghton Estate | |
|---|---|
  Houghton Estate  Houghton Estate  Houghton Estate | |
| Coordinates:26°9′S28°3′E / 26.150°S 28.050°E /-26.150; 28.050 | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Gauteng |
| Municipality | City of Johannesburg |
| Main Place | Johannesburg |
| Government | |
| • Type | City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality |
| • Councillor | Marcelle Ravid (Ward 73), Sihlwele Myeki (Ward 67) (DA (Ward 73), ANC (Ward 67)) |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.94 km2 (2.68 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 7,867 |
| • Density | 1,130/km2 (2,940/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 39.4% |
| • Coloured | 2.0% |
| • Indian/Asian | 22.4% |
| • White | 34.3% |
| • Other | 2.0% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • English | 60.2% |
| • Zulu | 8.0% |
| • Afrikaans | 5.7% |
| • Northern Sotho | 3.9% |
| • Other | 22.3% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 2198 |
Houghton Estate, often simply calledHoughton, is an affluent suburb ofJohannesburg, South Africa, north-east of the city centre. The area was designated for white residents as part of theGroup Areas Act during the apartheid era and became known as one of the city's upper-class neighbourhoods.[2][3]
Historically, the area has attracted a significant number ofJewish residents and is the home of Johannesburg's flagshipOrthodox synagogue,Great Park Synagogue.[4][5][2]Helen Suzman, a Jewish politician represented the suburb as Member of Parliament for Houghton from 1953 to 1989.[6] Suzman was succeeded byTony Leon.[7]
The suburb is also known for being the home of the late president,Nelson Mandela.
Houghton was developed as a residential area around the turn of the 20th century, primarily by theJohannesburg Consolidated Investment Company (JCI).[8] The suburb was laid out by surveyor Gustav Arthur Troye.[9]
Houghton Estate has traditionally been informally divided into Upper and Lower Houghton.[10] Upper Houghton is the southern and south-eastern portion located on a ridge, while the northern Lower Houghton is flatter and has agrid street pattern, with parts on both sides of theM1 freeway. Upper Houghton has been declared aNational Heritage Area.[11]
Upper and Lower Houghton are separated by the East-West section of Houghton Drive and part of Louis Botha Avenue. Small sections of Upper Houghton lie east of Louis Botha Avenue (borderingObservatory), and west of the north–south section of Houghton Drive (borderingParktown andHillbrow). Houghton is surrounded by wealthy suburbs in all directions, except south, where Upper Houghton borders less-affluent suburbs likeYeoville and Hillbrow.
Historically a wealthy area, it contains manymansions on big stands, blocks offlats, as well as office parks (developed on the sites of former homes) on streets close to the M1 and onLouis Botha Avenue. Houghton is architecturally varied.
There are good examples ofart deco buildings (particularly some of the flats)and homes such as Silver Pines (1936). The house was designed by Swiss architect Theophile Schaerer for Rand pioneer andGerman Jewish migrant, Bernard Kaumhelmer, father of anthropologist,Ellen Hellmann.[12][13] And many of the large houses in the 1930s are good examples of the Modern style inspired by the work ofLe Corbusier (Chipkin 1993), including Stern House (1935) designed byRex Distin Martienssen and partners, as well as House Marks (1940) byHarold Le Roith.[14][15]
Architect Piercy Patrick Eagle, also responsible forJeppe High School for Boys andKing Edward VII High School, designed 36 Houghton Drive (1919) in theArts and Crafts style.[16] Normandie (1934) was also built in this style and designed by Harold Wolseley Spicer. The home was later purchased by Dr Polonsky in 1939. A year later, his son,Antony Polonsky, aHolocaust scholar, was born in the house.[17] Mourgana (1927) is also built in this style and was designed by Walter and Cyril Reid.[18]
House Suzman (1937) was designed by J.C. Cook & Cowen in theSpanish Mission style for the couple, Saul Suzman and Betty Sonnenberg, daughter ofMax Sonnenberg. They were the parents of actress,Janet Suzman.[19]
Noordhoek (1938) was built in theCape Dutch Revival style and designed by Albert Hoogterp. The house was commissioned by stockbroker Maurice Lipschitz.[20]
The suburb, particularly Lower Houghton, is currently experiencing rapid redevelopment. Although many plots had already been subdivided in two, there is now a trend towards the development ofcluster homes. This redevelopment is sanctioned by the City of Johannesburg's Regional Spatial Development Framework. The city sees many positive aspects to the redevelopment, but it is not uncontroversial and has resulted in the destruction of many traditional houses.
As with many suburbs in the North-East of Johannesburg,[21][22] Houghton has historically been known for being aJewish area, and is home toGreat Park Synagogue.[5] Great Park was consecrated in Houghton in 2000 after its congregation closed its historic synagogue inHillbrow in 1994, as the area declined and Jewish congregants moved towards the northern suburbs.[5] Houghton is also home toWest Street Shul.[23][24]
There is also aMuslim community that has expanded in the northern suburbs since the repeal of theapartheid-eraGroup Areas Act. Amusallah was established in the east of the suburb, and, in 2011, amosque, Masjid ul Furqaan was built by the Houghton Muslim Association on the site of the mussalah.[25] Another, larger mosque on West Street, visible from the M1 freeway, was, after delays, completed in 2013 by the Houghton Muslim Jamaat.[26][27][28]
There are few shops in Houghton itself, apart fromconvenience stores in petrol stations, but the area is close to numerous commercial nodes in Johannesburg, including those inOaklands,Norwood,Killarney,Rosebank andSandton.
Houghton has two golf courses, Houghton Golf Club (1914) and the Killarney Golf Club (1903).[29] There is also a large public park,The Wilds (which has been described as "notorious" for muggings and crime).[30] A largesports club, theOld Edwardian Society (known asOld Eds), which includes a separateVirgin Active gym, is in Houghton.[31]
There are a number of well known schools in Upper Houghton: King Edward VII School (1909), a public school for boys, also known as KES), along with its associated primary school, King Edward VII Preparatory School, known as KEPS, andSt John's College (1907) a private Anglican school historically only for boys, while Roedean School (South Africa), a private girls school, is close by in Parktown.[29] Houghton School (a public primary school) is in Lower Houghton.
Lower Houghton, and a small part of Upper Houghton, bordering Observatory, are part of Region E of theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality,[32] and are currently (as of 2014) included in Ward 73, while most of Upper Houghton is part of Region F of theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality,[33] and is part of Ward 67.
During the apartheid era, the Houghton constituency in the whites-only parliament was represented by opponent of apartheid[34]Helen Suzman until 1989, and was, for a period in the 1960s, the sole seat of theProgressive Party in Parliament.[35]
Lower Houghton is part of theSAPS Norwood Police Station precinct,[36] while Upper Houghton is part of the Hillbrow Police Station's precinct.[37]
Houghton is centrally located, straddling theM1 freeway, with interchanges at Glenhove Road (M1 N & S), Eleventh Avenue (M1 S), Riviera Road (M1 N), 1st Avenue (M1 S) and Houghton Drive (M1 N). Multiple metropolitan routes cross Houghton, including theM16,M20,M31,R25, andM11 (Louis Botha Avenue).
The grid street pattern in Lower Houghton consists mostly of numberedStreets andAvenues on both sides of the M1.Avenues run east–west, whileStreets run from north to south. Avenue counting begins in the south with First Avenue (part of Metropolitan Route M16), and ends in the North with Seventeenth Avenue, while Street counting begins in the east with 1st Street, and ends in the West at 9th Street, with the numbered grid interrupted by Central, West and River Streets. North–south streets in Upper Houghton are generally named after trees, while east–west roads are named after Christian saints.
Lower Houghton and Upper Houghton are linked by Louis Botha Avenue, Houghton Drive, and the steep and windingMunro Drive, a National Monument which has a viewpoint with a view over the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.[38][39]
Louis Botha Avenue, in the east of the suburb, is an importantminibus taxi route linking Hillbrow to Alexandra,[40] and, as of 2014, construction began on the expansion of Johannesburg'sRea Vayabus rapid transit system to Louis Botha Avenue.[41] AGautrain bus feeder route (numbered RB5) runs past the office parks on West Street, linking to theRosebank Gautrain Station.
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